Naiad
In Greek mythology, the naiads (in ancient Greek Ναϊάδες Naiádes, Ναίδες Naídes or Νάιτιδες Náitides from νάω 'to flow') were the nymphs of the bodies of fresh water —fountains, wells, springs, streams and streams— and they incarnated the divinity of the watercourse they inhabited, in the same way that the Oceanids were the divine personifications of the rivers and some very old spirits that inhabited the stagnant waters of swamps, ponds and lagoons as in the pre-Mycenaean Lerna of the Argolis. Almost always the naiads are daughters of a river god, or even of the Ocean itself (thus being confused with the oceanids, whose main difference with the naiads is that they are wives of gods, not of local heroes).
Mythology
Although the Naiads were associated with small freshwater streams, the Oceanids with rivers, and the Nereids with saltwater, there was some overlap because the Greeks thought of the world's waters as a single percolating system. from the sea to deep cavernous spaces in the bosom of the earth from where it rose already sweet in filtrations and springs. Arethusa the nymph of a spring could make her way through the subterranean currents of the Peloponnese to surface on the island of Sicily.
In their capacity as nymphs, naiads are female beings endowed with great longevity but mortal. A naiad's essence was linked to her body of water so that if it dried up she would die. Although Walter Burkert points out that «when in the Iliad (xx.4-9) Zeus calls the gods to assembly on Mount Olympus, it is not only the famous Olympians who come but also all the nymphs and all the rivers; only Oceanus remains in place" (Burkert 1985). Greek listeners recognized this impossibility as hyperbole by the poet who proclaimed the universal power of Zeus over the ancient natural world: "worship of these deities" confirms Burkert "is limited only by the fact that they are inseparably identified with a specific locality.
Their genealogy changes according to the mythographer and the legend consulted: Homer calls them "daughters of Zeus" but in other places it is stated that they were daughters of Oceanus. It is more common to consider them daughters of the river-god in which they inhabit. His genealogy in any case is varied. The water nymph associated with a particular fountain was known throughout Europe in places with no direct relation to Greece, surviving in Celtic wells in northwest Europe that were later rededicated to saints, and in medieval Melusina.
All famous fountains and springs have their naiad or their group of naiads normally considered sisters and their own legend. They were often the object of archaic local cults worshiped as essential to fertility and human life. Young men coming of age dedicated their childish locks to the naiad from the local spring. Healing virtues were often attributed to the naiads: the sick drank the water to which they were associated or, more rarely, bathed in them. This was the case of Lerna where animals were also ritually drowned. Oracles could be located next to ancient sources.
Naiads could also be dangerous. Sometimes bathing in its waters was considered a sacrilege and the naiads retaliated against the offender. Seeing them could also be a reason for punishment, which usually brought as punishment the madness of the unfortunate witness. Hylas, a crew member of the Argo, was kidnapped by naiads fascinated by his beauty. Naiads were also known for their jealousy. Theocritus told the story of the jealousy of a naiad in which a shepherd Daphnis was the lover of Nomia to whom he was unfaithful on several occasions until she blinded him forever in revenge.
At the origin of many genealogies such as those of Icarius, Ericthonius or Thyestes appears a naiad. When a mythical king was believed to have married a naiad and founded a city Robert Graves offers a sociopolitical reading: the Hellenic newcomers justified their presence by taking the naiad of the fountain as their wife, as in the pre-myth story of Aristaeus in which Hipseus, a king of the lapites, married the nymph Clidanope with whom he had Cyrene. Among the immortals there is a parallel to the love affairs and rapes of Zeus which, according to Graves, record the supplanting of ancient local cults by other Olympians (Graves 1955). Aristeo had an unusual experience with the naiads: when his bees died in Thessaly he went to consult them. His aunt Arethusa invited him to go under the surface of the water where he was washed in a perpetual spring and received counsel. A mortal but related had drowned being sent as a messenger in this way to obtain advice and favors from the naiads for his people.
Types of Naiads
We will have to specify that the cataloging of the naiads according to the body of fresh water is an invention of the Hellenistic poets, who tried to decorate their works with poetic resources to be innovative. In the mythological corpus they are usually mentioned simply as generic nymphs, and in most cases they are the wives of a local hero and the daughter of a river god. The crenean and pegean naiads (rarely so called) are by far the most common, and of which there are attested local cults associated with their name. As has already been said, at least in one source (Odyssey, XVII 204) the nymphs (understood as naiads) are named as daughters of Zeus, without further details. Finally, this is the denomination, perhaps artificial, of the types of naiad nymphs according to the type of fresh water currents with which they are linked in myths:
- From sources: creneas (Κρηναιαιαι) or crénides (Κρηνιαδες)
- Of the swamps: heleades ()λειονομοι)
- From lakes: limnades (Ḥιμναδες) or limnátides (Διμνητιδες, θνατιδες)
- From springs: pegeas (γγγαιαι)
- From rivers: potatomids (κοταμιδες)
Catalog of naiads
Three criteria have been taken into account to prepare this list. The first and most obvious is that the nymph has to be explicitly mentioned as a naiad in the written sources. The second category includes nymphs that could be generic, but are associated with a freshwater source. Finally, the nymphs daughters of the river gods will also be included in this list. Nameless collective naiads are not included in this list, but if they are individual nymphs they will appear at the bottom of the list. Be that as it may, this is an exhaustive list of all the naiads that literature has given us:
| Náyade | Particularities |
|---|---|
| Abarbárea | Daughter of the Esther; he was loved by the Trojan Bucolion and mother of Esther and Pédaso |
| Acrea | Daughter of Asterion and Nodriza of Hera |
| Alce | Sangario Daughter |
| Alexírroe | Daughter of the Great and Mother of Esaco with Pyromo |
| Aganipe | Daughter of the Thermal and Crenea of Mount Helicón |
| Amimone | Daughter of the Indian and identified with the daughter of Danao |
| Anipe | Nile Daughter |
| Anquínoe | Daughter of the Nile and wife of Belo |
| Wicked | Daughter of the Erasino |
| Wicked | Daughter of Cremetes |
| Antiope | Daughter of the Asop and Mother of Anfion and Zetus by Zeus |
| Astérope | Daughter of the Cebrin who was loved by Esaco |
| Astíoque | Simois daughter, wife of Erictonio and mother of Tros |
| Bat | Najade wife of Ebalo and mother of Tindáreo, Hipocoonte and Icario |
| Bice | Daughter of the Erasino |
| Calcide | Daughter of the Asop |
| Caliadne | One of the consorts of Egypt |
| Calírroe | Daughter of the One, wife of Alcmeon and mother of Anphotero and Acarnán |
| Calírroe | Daughter of the Escamander, wife of Tros, king of Troy |
| Castalia | Daughter of the Elooo or Cefiso, of Mount Parnaso |
| Cianea | Daughter of Meandro and consort of Mileto |
| Cirene | Daughter of Peneo and Mother of Aristeo by Apollo |
| Cleo would | Mother of Euros by Lélege |
| Cleomede | Implicitly daughter of the Axeo, was the wife of Pawn and mother of Laofoonte |
| Cleona | Daughter of the Asop and Epostima |
| Corsica | Daughter of the Asop and Eponymous, plus mother by Poseidon of Féax |
| Coricia | Daughter of the Plisto and Mother of Licoras by Apollo |
| Creussa | Najade or Ocean, daughter of Ocean and Gea and ancestor of lapitas |
| Dafne | Daughter of Peneo or Ladon, was loved by Apollo and converted into laurel |
| Dáulide | Daughter of the Cefisus and Eponima Crenide |
| Diogeny | Daughter of the Cefisus and wife of Frasimo |
| Diopatra | Daughter of the Spike |
| Dirce | Daughter of the Ismeno and wife that Lico who mistreated Antiope |
| Egina | Daughter of the Asop, the eponymous of the island and mother of Eak by Zeus |
| Enone | Daughter of the Cebrén and first love of Paris |
| Stilbe | Daughter of the Peneo, and mother of Lapites and Centaur by Apollo |
| Strimo | Daughter of the Escamandro, as well as wife of Laomedonte and mother, among others, of Príamo |
| Strophy | Daughter of Ismeno |
| Eubea | Daughter of the Asop and Eponymous of the Island |
| Eubea | Daughter of Asterion and Nodriza of Hera |
| Evadne | Daughter of the Strimon and wife of the Epony Argos |
| Farmacea | Daughter of the Iliso and Trusted companion of Oritía |
| Philodice | Daughter of Indian and wife of Leucipo |
| Glaucia | Daughter of Scamander |
| Harpina | Daughter of the Asop, the eponymous and mother of Enomaus by Ares |
| Do it. | Daughter of the Sangario and wife of Príamo, is not usually cited as ninfa |
| Hesperia | Daughter of the Cebrin, just the same as Asteroope |
| Hide | Daughter of the Gigea and mother of Ifition by Otrinteo |
| Hieromneme | Daughter of the Simois and Mother of Capis |
| Ifide | Daughter of Peneo and wife of Eolo |
| Io | Daughter of the Indian |
| Ismene | Daughter of the Asopp and wife of Argos Panoptes |
| Ismenide | Ismeno Daughter and Pan Consort |
| Lilea | Daughter of the Cefisus and eponymous |
| Langía | Native of Nemea, whose source was forgiven by Dioniso |
| Limnea | Daughter of the Ganges and Mother of Atis according to Ovid |
| Melene | Daughter of the Cefisus and mother of the Epolo |
| Menfis | Daughter of the Nile, Epaphe's wife and mother of Libya |
| Menipe | Daughter of Peneo, wife of Pelasgo and mother of Frástor |
| Metis | daughter of the Meles and fabulous mother of the poet Homero |
| Mélite | Daughter of the Aegean and Mother of Hilas by Heracles |
| Mélite | Daughter of the Erasino |
| Mind | Ninfa del Cocito, beloved of Hades who was metamorphosed on the mint plant |
| Mera | Daughter of the Erasino |
| Metope | Daughter of the Ladon, wife of the river god Asoppo and mother of the Asopian nayades |
| Micene | Daughter of the Indian and Eponymous |
| Mirtoesa | Nodriza de Zeus, ninfa of an eponymous archdiocese well |
| Moria | A nayade that revived his brother Tilo |
| Nana | Daughter of the Sangario and mother of Atis |
| Nemea | Daughter of the Asop and Epostima |
| Nicea | Sangario Daughter |
| Ocírroe | Daughter of the Imbraso |
| Ocírroe | Daughter of the Ceco |
| Ocírroe | Sangario Daughter |
| Oéroe | Daughter of the Asop |
| Ornia | Daughter of the Asop |
| Pegáside | Daughter of the Grenico and Mother of Atimnio by Emation |
| Peribea | Spouse of Icariot and Penelope's mother and five children |
| Pirene | Daughter of the Asopo or thatoo, in addition to mother crenea of Leques and Cencrias by Poseidon |
| Platea | Daughter of the Asop and Eponymous of the People |
| Praxítea | Mother of Pandon by Erictonio |
| Prosimna | Daughter of Asterion and Nodriza of Hera |
| Quíone | Nile Daughter |
| Ródope | Daughter of the Hebrew, was loved by Apollo and Hemo |
| Sagarítide | Sangario Daughter |
| Salamina | Daughter of the Asop and Eponymous of the Island |
| Salmácide | A nayade that fell in love with Hermaphrodito |
| Samia | Daughter of Meandro and Eponymous of the Island |
| Sinope | Daughter of Apolo and loved by Apolo |
| Siringe | Daughter of the Ladon, gave her name to the maid |
| Tanagra | Daughter of the Asop and Eponymous of the People |
| Tebe | Daughter of the Asop and Eponymous of the People |
| Telfusa | Daughter of Ladon and Beocia Crenea |
| Temis | Daughter of the Ladon |
| Terine | Daughter of Strimon |
| Tespia | Daughter of the Asop and Eponymous of the People |
| Auntie | Hija del Cefiso |
| Tiasa | Potamide of the village of Amiclas |
| Tronia | Mother of Abdero with Poseidon |
| Zeuxipe | daughter of the Erudian and wife of Pandon of Athens |
Nameless naiads
Finally, naiads without a name are included, although in other sources they may have:
- The mother of three children by Tiestes, called Aglaus, Calileonte and Orcomeno
- The wife of Endimion
- Quiron's wife's nayade.
- The Partion's Nayade
- The Najade of Serifos, wife of Magnes and mother of Dictis and Polidectes